Saxons throttle Frostburg, move to 3-1 in Empire 8

FROSTBURG, MD—The Alfred University football team piled up 259 rushing yards and scored two defensive touchdowns in a 32-7 victory at Empire 8 Conference foe Frostburg State Saturday afternoon.

The Saxons scored the game's first 22 points, holding Frostburg scoreless until 5:24 remained in the third. AU had 398 yards of offense and held Frostburg to 240, including a mere 85 passing, well below its 251-yard per game passing average coming in. With the win, Alfred's second straight, the Saxons improved to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in Empire 8 play.

AU opened the scoring on a 33-yard field goal by freshman Thomas Gioia, then added a pair of touchdowns on a 40-yard interception return by junior free safety Mike Perkins with 4:25 left in the opening frame and a seven-yard TD toss from freshman quarterback Tyler Johnson to senior tailback Austin Dwyer. Both extra points failed and Alfred led 15-0 midway through the second quarter.

Johnson threw his second TD pass of the game, a 29-yarder to senior wideout Josh Phillips five minutes into the third to give Alfred a 22-0 advantage. After Frostburg scored with 5:24 left in the third to make it 22-7, the Saxons closed out the scoring on a 31-yard Gioia field goal with 11:08 left in the fourth and a 25-yard fumble return by freshman nose guard Zack Bacon with 10:25 remaining. Bacon's recovery and return came after AU senior end Justin Collen sacked the Frostburg quarterback and forced the fumble.

Frostburg tailback Mike Fourth ran for a game-high 117 yards and a touchdown and also caught three passes for 39 yards.

Sophomore linebacker Peter Diak paced the Saxon defense with a game-high 13 tackles. Collen had seven tackles, including a pair of sacks, and a forced fumble; sophomore strong safety Mike Berardi had six tackles and forced a fumble; and Perkins and senior safety Seiji Hinton each had interceptions.